Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Optimism vs. Pessimism

This great article "Train Yourself to be Happier" (which is a more fun read than it sounds) is all about thinking positive. Although it probably isn't news to you, it's something to keep in mind.

I still believe that pretty much the same kind of stuff happens to everyone, so all that really matters is how you deal with it. For the most part it just boils down to whether you are an optimist or a pessimist.

I realize that it is probably extremely hard to switch from being a pessimist to being an optimist. Pessimism is good for only one thing: protecting yourself from being let down. If you expect to always be let down, then when it happens, it's what you expected. Of course, the cost is that you live in a world of negativity, where you expect bad things to happen to you. Seems like it'd be pretty hard to ever really reach for something, doesn't it?

Ego protection aside, there's no cost to being an optimist. Better stuff does happen to you. And guess what? Even if it doesn't, at least you'll live in a life that expects, remembers, and promotes happiness.

Why would you want it any other way?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What about the medium of reality?